Tesla picked an odd Rolling Stones song for its latest Autopilot video

Tesla announced a radical new upgrade to its Autopilot
self-diving technology on Wednesday — so radical in terms of
hardware and software that it could be more than a year before we
get to see a fully autonomous Tesla drive itself from Los Angeles
to New York, the ultimate futuristic road trip.

To support the announcement,
Tesla released a video showing a Model X on Autopilot
exiting a garage and going on a self-driving journey before
pulling into Tesla HQ and parallel parking itself
(automated parallel parking is nothing new, but a car finding a
spot and executing this most vexing of maneuvers for student
drivers was still impressive).

A very 21st-century commute.

But here's what was weird about the video: the choice of music.
It was "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones, a tune from the
band's 1966 album "Aftermath" that's frequently heard these days
on classic-rock radio. It's notable for the exotic,
proto-psychedelic instrumentation — primarily the sitar —
provided by founding member Brian Jones, who was pushed out the
group in 1969 and replaced by Mick Taylor, beginning a run of
recordings that many consider the Stones' finest work.

An
Autopilot commute.Tesla

"Paint It Black" is a moody number that's often described as
being about depression.

"I see a red door and I want it painted
black/No colors anymore, I want them to turn
black/I see the girls walk by dressed in their
summer clothes/I have to turn my head until my
darkness goes" is how the
lyrics, co-written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, go for
the first verse.

It doesn't exactly pick up from there: "I look inside
myself and see my heart is black/I see my red door
and I must have it painted black/Maybe then I'll
fade away and not have to face the facts/It's not
easy facing up when your whole world is black."

The song does have a propulsive, percussive quality that
keeps it bouncing along, a counterpoint to the gloom. Maybe
that's why Tesla chose it. Or perhaps Tesla's musical director
was subliminally channeling the sadness that driving enthusiasts
are feeling as a future in which the steering wheel goes away
gets closer to reality.

Personally, I think that "Paint It Black's" trippy sonic
energy is what attracted Tesla to it. (Update: A BI commenter
pointed out that Musk is a fan of HBO's "Westworld" reboot, which
makes use of the song, and that it's a sly reference in
the video.) If you've ever been in a Tesla car that's
running Autopilot, there's something hallucinogenic about the
initial experience. It dislocates you from your familiar
reality.

And that isn't depressing at all, once you get used to
it.

Here's a clip of the Stones performing the song, complete
with Jones on Sitar: